How Things Change
by WrathWings
Summary: A story in which two men bond, one sneaks in the other's window and one's sister is highly suspicious. Probably better than it sounds. Probably. Pre-slash/friendship.


This is pre-slash/friendship between Tyler and Jeremy. No actual kissing or sexytimes, but it could definitely be read as a build up to it. A sequel will be coming soon with actual slash. Read and review please.

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It all begins with Tyler's change. Well, actually it begins with his father's death. He'd been at the hospital, just sitting there, feeling nothing. It'd been cold. Matt and Caroline had left and he understood that and his mother is calling everyone, telling them-

He couldn't handle it. He could smell his mother's tears and hear her choked sobs even though she's outside by the car. Tyler shook his head, trying to think of anything else. He wasn't going to cry. His father taught him his entire life that to act strong was to be strong, that weakness was never to be shown in public.

He knew what he was. His mother had explained it to him, sat him down, and told him everything. About his history, about the lycanism. It wasn't a shock. The fighting, the fucking. Tyler shut his eyes. _Don't think about it._

And that's when they wheeled Jeremy Gilbert in, screaming about a drug overdose. It had Tyler on his feet in an instant. Nonononono, not Jeremy. Anyone but Jeremy, any day but today.

But nothing had happened. They brought him back and pumped his stomach and Jeremy Gilbert woke up the next afternoon with Jenna and Elena by his bedside. Tyler had come back and watched from the doorway as Jeremy held back tears and told them Anna had been in the fire. That she was dead. Gone just like Vicki.

And as much as they wanted to understand, Tyler could see that Jenna and Elena didn't get it, couldn't grieve with Jeremy. He could smell the anguish pouring off the boy in waves and Tyler turned away. It was too much like his own.

After they left, Tyler sat down beside his bed; Jeremy didn't seem surprised. No one spoke. An hour went by with them just basking in the silence. No one was telling them "sorry" or "I'm here for you". There were no empty words of consolation, no hands on their shoulders. It was nice.

But it let Tyler think. The pain, both his and Jeremy's, was all consuming and all he wanted was to-

"My dad's dead." It was the first thing he said since he sat down and it was like a dam breaking; the tears rose unbidden and he would have felt stupid if he could breathe-

And Jeremy just pulled him close, one hand splayed on between his shoulder blades and one petting his hair; Tyler tugged him even closer, buried his head in the other boy's shoulder.

And now, four months later, Tyler's sneaking into Jeremy's room again. Not because Jenna doesn't approve of their friendship, which she totally does. He does it because Elena isn't as accepting as her aunt and it always seems like Elena and Stefan (and Damon; he wonders if anything kinky is going on there, but when he asked Jeremy, he had gotten smacked) are there too.

She's here now; her scent is heavy in the air and Stefan's too. They're in the kitchen talking. Stefan smells angry and fearful and Elena's is thick with terror. He's almost tempted to go to them and investigate, but Jeremy is just beyond that window and that's all he's concerned with right now.

He leaps up, scaling the tree beside Jeremy's window with ease. Tyler knocks on the window quickly and quietly, the sun on his back. One more day and he'll have to leave town again. Jeremy appears in the window with a smile and he pushes the window open.

"You know, I have a front door." Tyler rolls his eyes and crawls inside, gently shoving Jeremy out of the way.

"Shut it, Gilbert. I'm only here for Jenna's brownies." It's Jeremy's time to roll his eyes and they pile into his room, trying to be a little quiet.

"Are you going out of town again?" He hasn't told Jeremy any of it, what his family is, what he is. "More therapy?"

"Yeah. Mom wants me to be alright." Tyler shrugs and flops down on the bed; Jeremy nudges him over and takes up the space on his left.

"We all do." There's a soft look in his friend's eyes and Tyler's entire body relaxes into the comforter; he allows the corner of his lips to tilt up a fraction before he plays it cool again.

"How are you doing?" He's here about Jeremy after all.

"I'm doing as well as can be expected." It's an avoidance, but Jeremy knows Tyler's always going to be here to listen so he lets it slide.

"Jeremy?" Elena knocks on the door and like a shot, Tyler's under the bed, hiding from the big bad, big sister. "Can I come in?" She comes in anyway and Tyler's really glad he moved so fast; he can see another set of shoes. "You hungry? Stefan made pasta."

"Tyler can come too." The man's voice is neutral, but his scent is laced with amusement; there's something unnatural there too. The Salvatores have always smelled like graveyard dirt and iron and Tyler hates it, but he thinks he hates the smug tone in the man's voice even more.

"Tyler's here?" He can feel Jeremy move and the bed skirt is pulled up; Tyler crawls out from under the bed and scowls at the younger boy.

"Traitor." There's no bite to the word, though, and Jeremy just bumps shoulders with him.

"How did you get in?" Elena's glaring at him, but Stefan looks almost wary as if Tyler's a threat.

"So pasta?" Jeremy grabs Tyler's hand and pulls him past the spectators; Jenna is passing by in the hallway.

"Hey, Tyler. Staying for dinner?" She's carrying a laundry basket perched on her hip.

"Yeah. We'll be downstairs." They run past her, Tyler waving sheepishly as Jenna just chuckles and then makes eye contact with Elena.

"Are you actually encouraging this? Tyler was a jerk to Jeremy!" Elena's livid, but her vampiric boyfriend is standing stoically to the side.

"Tyler's a sweet kid at heart, Elena. His dad's death hit him hard just like Anna's hurt Jeremy. They're good for each other right now." Jenna walks away, preparing to throw the laundry in the washer.

Elena's ready to go downstairs and give Tyler a piece of her mind, but Stefan's hand on her wrist is stopping her. "Stefan, I just have a bad feeling about this."

"I do, too. Tyler smells different." At her alarmed expression, the vampire lowers his voice. "He doesn't smell like a vampire, but it's changed. I don't know how to explain it, but let's just keep an eye on him, hm?"

They make their way to the kitchen where Jenna, Tyler and Jeremy are dishing out the pasta; Elena watches as Tyler whispers something in her little brother's ear and Jeremy turns pink before snorting and lightly shoving the other boy.

It shouldn't bother her. She tells herself that Jeremy and Tyler are just friends, but their body language screams intimate. Their chairs are just close enough to catch her trained eye, but far enough apart to avoid everyone else's attention. They're turned towards each and most of their jokes are inside ones.

They're both different. Jeremy seems content. Happy. He's not dwelling on Anna as much and he's having fun without drugs or alcohol. His shoulders are relaxed and he's grinning from ear to ear.

But Tyler's the one that surprises her. Everything about him used to scream aggression and violence. Now he still has the intimidating aura, but it's muted; he's looking at Jeremy and there's a soft smile on his face and a light in his eyes and that's when Elena realizes it.

Tyler's looking at Jeremy like she imagines Stefan's looking at her right now.

The thought should scare her, knowing what Stefan said earlier, but Tyler and Jeremy just fit together so nicely. She just hopes that Tyler doesn't bail or break like Anna and Vicki did.

Elena comes back to herself and finds Jeremy examining her curiously. He's concerned and she just smiles.

"So are you going out of town again tomorrow, Tyler?" Jenna asks, reaching for some salt.

"Yeah." It's short, not exactly clipped, but it's in a tone that says no more questions; Jeremy shoots him a look and tilts his head. "It's just- weird." Tyler adds, trying to make that look go away.

"It's not weird." Jeremy's lips tilt up in a private smile and Tyler's do too, relieving the tension immediately.

Elena sends Jenna a look and her aunt knows exactly what she's thinking.

_Things have changed._

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So what do you think? Let me know. READ AND REVIEW PEOPLE.


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